CAIR Says ADL Seeks to Hinder Legal Rights of US Muslims

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an Islamic rights and advocacy group, has accused the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of seeking to hinder the due process rights of American Muslims. CAIR says they did this through what they call “smears and exclusionary tactics” and that they are exploiting “growing Islamophobia in American society.”

It is hard to tell what the release is about, other than from the subheading, which says CAIR accuses ADL of being only a

in the Holy Land Foundation Court Case

that smears a coalition that is advocating due process for Muslim charity in Texas. It reads a lot more like a thumping for the ADL in general.

CAIR said examples of the smears could be found in an ADL news release that targets “members of a coalition defending the legal rights of officials of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) Muslim charity currently on trial in Texas.”

CAIR says ADL’s release falsely claims coalition members have been “tainted by their own murky associations with radical organizations and individuals.”

Here is what CAIR said about that:

“It is regrettable that the Anti-Defamation League, which claims to defend American civil liberties, would seek to exploit the growing level of Islamophobia in our society by using the same smears and exclusionary tactics that have in the past been used by anti-Semites to target the Jewish community.”

CAIR then went on to complain that not only wasn’t this the first time the ADL had tried to stifle muslims, they had a long history of doing it.

CAIR said, “Unfortunately, the ADL has a history of seeking to marginalize and disenfranchise American Muslims in an attempt to stifle an alternative viewpoint on U.S. policy in the Middle East.”

The Islamic group’s release referred to a previous ADL release back in 2004, in which the ADL appeared to have got some words mixed up, shahada and shahid. CAIR says the Anti-Defamation League was forced to make a retraction.

CAIR obviously has a long memory, because they went back to issues in 2002, 2001, 2000 and even 1999.

In the 2003 incident, CAIR says ADL “engaged in a behind-the-scenes smear campaign designed to block speakers from taking part in a Muslim event in Florida. CAIR’s Florida office, the sponsor of the event, said speakers disregarded an ADL letter smearing other event participants, including a former U.S. congressman.”

CAIR says ADL was naughty twice:

The first time, ADL apparently demanded “Muslim groups be denied the right to offer presentations on Islam to public officials at a public event in Southern California. The ADL’s campaign of defamation was revealed when the Los Angeles Times wrote: ‘Pro-Israel or Jewish organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Defense League and [Daniel Pipes’] Middle East Forum think tank have provided news organizations with reams of critical documentation on Muslim leaders in recent weeks.'”

The second time, CAIR alleges that ADL pressured officials in New York, asking them to retract the appointment of a prominent employment discrimination attorney, to the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

Prior to that, in 2001, CAIR says ADL was active on the opposite coast, at CAIR’s office in Los Angeles, California, trying to stop CAIR from being involved in a hearing on hate crimes. Then they jumped back to the east coast, asking the Florida Commission on Human Relations to exclude a Muslim representative from an annual civil rights conference. Also, back on the left coast again, the State of California Select Committee on Hate Crimes rejected an ADL attempt to prevent a Muslim leader from offering testimony in a public hearing.

CAIR also says the ADL testified before Congress in 2000, supporting the use of “secret evidence” against Muslims and Arabs.

Here is what CAIR’s release says about that, from an Associated Press story:

“In April of 2001, a federal judge upheld a jury’s findings that the ADL defamed a Colorado couple by publicly accusing them of being anti-Semitic. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Nottingham said that evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s conclusion that the ADL ‘acted recklessly in its efforts to publicize what it perceived to be anti-Semitic conduct.’ (Associated Press, 4/4/2001)

And another Associated Press story from 1999:

“In 1999, the ADL agreed to pay $25,000 to a community relations fund and said it would not spy on other organizations as part of a settlement with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and other groups. The settlement resolved a class-action lawsuit filed in 1993 that accused the ADL of spying on Arab-American, pro-Palestinian and anti-Apartheid groups and individuals. (AP, 9/28/1999)

At the end of the CAIR release, CAIR touts its anti-terrorism credentials. Then it seems the release is all about the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

“CAIR and other American Muslim organizations have consistently condemned terrorism, including attacks on Israeli civilians, while the ADL has remained silent about the abuses suffered by the Palestinian people under occupation. CAIR has also repeatedly called for a peaceful and just resolution to the Middle East conflict that takes into account the rights and responsibilities of all parties.

CAIR wants to stop the ADL supporting Israel.

“For too long, the ADL has allowed its blind support for Israel’s brutal policies toward the Palestinians and its zero-sum approach to public debate on the Middle East conflict to unnecessarily poison relations between the Jewish and American Muslim communities.

And start supporting the islamization of America.

“We call on the ADL to end its campaign of exclusion and to join with American Muslims in seeking to make our nation one that is both safe and free of intolerance and hatred.”

Interesting words from a group labeled “unindicted conspirators” in the Holy Land Foundation Court Case. A group that the FBI cut its ties to, a group connected to a Hamas fundraiser and called a front for The Muslim Brotherhood.

Judyth Piazza is the host of the American Perspective Radio Program, a cutting edge radio program that is full of inspiration and information. It’s intended to help people succeed in life.

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